The Narrative of Fredrick Douglass (Essay Sample)

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The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass
The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass: An American Slave is a slave narrative written by Fredrick Douglass. The narrative comprises of eleven chapters that give an account of Douglass’ life as a slave, and his quest to get educated, and become free from the slavery institution. In this narrative, Douglass struggles to free himself from the mentally, physically, and emotional torture of slavery, and the slavery itself. Douglass was taken away from his parents at a tender age and sent to live in Baltimore with his masters, Sophia and Hugh Auld. It was through his stay with the Auld’s that he came to learn of the whites dominance and power over the black people/ slaves by making sure that they were uneducated. After his discovery, Douglass narrates how he decided to get educated in order to escape and free himself from slavery. Douglass was determined to get educated and he used this education to teach his fellow slaves and is later jailed after his plan to escape was discovered. In the end, Douglass was able to learn how to read and write well as well as to escape.
Douglass wrote this narrative to let the audience know how the black slaves were brutally treated by the whites. He narrates how their owners in order to satisfy their sexual hunger, and to expand the slave population constantly raped the slave women. In addition, he narrates how the slave owners used religious teaching to justify their detestable treatment of slaves when he says, "I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity" (Douglass 29). Douglass tells the audience of the harsh condition, he and the other slaves faced in the hands of the whites, from the brutal beatings to murder of slaves, which went unpunished.
Throughout the text, Douglass describes the life the slaves lived, and their suffering due to lack of education. The text significantly expresses the experiences of Douglass as a slave, and how they made him the man he became through education. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is an insightful book for the people who seek knowledge as the author clearly notes that, knowledge is freedom and power. The tribulations Douglass encountered were so real and make the reader identify with them, and strive to gain more knowledge to be able to defend him/herself from social injustices. Through his writing, he was able to influence many famous abolitionists.
One of the main reasons why Douglass wrote this narrative was to offset the undignified and humiliating way, in which the white people viewed him, plus the other slaves. Douglass witnessed the brutalization of his fellow black people whose only mistake as he narrates was to be born of the wrong color, black. The whites treated the blacks with brutality and were against them being educated. Douglass desired to learn how to read and write, and his master did everything to stop him from gaining knowledge on how to read and write. Douglass writes, "Whilst I was saddened by the thought of losing the aid of my kind mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by the merest accident, I had gained from my master" (Douglass 38). This was after Mr. Auld orders his wife Sophia to stop offering Douglass reading lessons. This made him more determined to learn how to read and write because he knew it was a key to his freedom. Despite all this, Douglass was able to learn how to read and write and he decided to write about the white people’s evils and how they mistreated the black people. Douglass wrote this narrative to analyze the slavery issue and expose why the whites were against the blacks becoming literate.
Another reason why Douglass wrote this narrative was to shape the future of the black people. The black people were illiterate because their owners denied them the chance to become literate. Douglass writes how Hugh Auld said, "If you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master" (38). The owners knew that if they got education, they would rebel against them and refuse to work for them. Therefore, when Douglass learned about this from his master, he knew that education was the key to his freedom and he has to get educated first, to free his intellect. Fredrick writes, "The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers" (49). It was only after he was able to read, that is when he learnt of the evils of slavery, and what exactly was happening to his fellow black people. After he became literate and read many books, he took the mandate to educate his fellow slaves, to shape their future, and to free them.